The blog may be a little dead (cough), but there’s no way I’m letting this go.

In the midst of Hari Raya and conscription (I actually have to book in right now), here’s wishing another year of great music and fun from Miku and all you awesome composers.

Also, American Miku. What do you chaps think of it?

Finally the legal age to vote, yay! Now if only I was 21 a month earlier…

In any case, thanks for all the wishes, everyone! I think this is one of the few times I actually get on Facebook to reply to all of you. ( *w*)

Today wasn’t much of a birthday, though; I spent most of my day resting and sleeping, and basically trying to recover from my “job” (i.e. guard duty).

I did have a birthday dinner at night though; it’s like a tradition in my family. This year, we went to Bali Thai over at IMM (we couldn’t be arsed to go further hurr hurr).

And yes, that is a tapioca “cake” up there. It may look like some cheap ration in a war (according to TP), but tapioca pudding with coconut is easily one of my favourite desserts.

Well, I’m stuffed, and I’m pooped! I better sign off and get some shut eye before I potentially undo my hard work of shaving some hours off my eternal fatigue.

( *A*)/

Since I gotta go out for lunch with a couple of friends (and I really don’t want to delay this post any further), this is the best I can do for now.

In other (related) news, there’s a DLC for Project DIVA 2nd just for this occasion, and Rin/Len Append was released on the same day, too. The illustration was released way earlier, though. Totally dig Osamu’s design (which IMO is better than Masaki’s take on Miku Append).

To make up for the obvious lack of content, let’s play a little game. How many PVs can you identify from the header image of awesome (which has been my wallpaper for a while now BTW)?

Good luck! No prizes for those that can do 100%, though. (Hint: There are about 39 of them, if I’m not mistaken)

I can’t even make time to post my own birthday post on time, gah.

Warning: This is a very personal and tl;dr post.

I turned 20 today yesterday 2 days ago. Yeah, it kinda took that long to get this post up. orz

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a none-news post (not counting that recent cosplayer interview), so I might as well write a bit about my current, personal life.

I’ve recently graduated from Singapore Polytechnic; that is, officially attended the graduation ceremony. Now I’m pretty much waiting for my National Service to kick in, which is gonna happen on the 28th of June.

Instead of being a NEET guy waiting around though, I somehow got hired by the very same polytechnic (along with site-admin-san) as a software developer with a decent pay, so it’s all good.

Of course, that’s the main reason why I’m still unable to deliver my posts on time. Just for the record. :3

I’ve noticed something though, looking at my posts since my last birthday: I’ve turned into a nearly-full-time news blogger. Kind of ironic, considering I once looked down upon news bloggers myself, reasoning that they simply post news day after day for no real purpose. >_>

I’ve found out that that isn’t really the case; they (or should I say we now?) want to share whatever they’ve found with the world, so what better way to do it then a blog post (which would in turn update the feeds of their subscribers)?

It probably started when Fariz left and I hired guest bloggers to make up for it. Somehow, I progressed to writing news in Fariz’s place, to the point where it turned into overkill-long posts. Strangely enough, my efforts appear to be appreciated by the general public (AKA you readers), so I’m not gonna stop doing it anytime.

It does take a ton of time to research and write though (especially with this writer’s block I seem to be having these days), and I do miss quite a few juicy pieces of information at times, so thanks for bearing with me, guys!

On the other hand, I haven’t been able to keep up with the personal posts myself, sadly. Or at least general non-news posts, i.e. reviews and episodic posts. I wanted to write about each and every episode of K-ON!! (continuing the last time I did an episodic), though somehow that never reached fruition. ;_;

Also, something else I forgot to mention: my own notebook died. It bit the bullet way before the graduation ceremony, and it kinda sucks not being able to do all the things you want when you’re bored (i.e. play games). If you follow me on Twitter, you should know the story behind it, since I keep the rant-y stuff on there so that KK won’t turn into a blog run by an emo main writer.

Well, *looks at the clock* it’s 3 AM now, and I’ve written more than “a bit”, so I should probably stop digressing and get back to the main topic at hand:

Happy Birthday To Me!

Feel free to leave comments, however late it may be; I appreciate the gesture. And also, seriously, thanks for reading and following KK up till now; that alone is a great present to me. =)

I didn’t expect this post to be 10 hours late, but sometimes **** happens, unfortunately.

It’s finally time for KK to celebrate the birth of the twins, created from the voice data of Asami Shimoda (if you didn’t already know by now).

A good question comes to mind though: if I consider Rin to be my waifu, what’s Len to me then? A husband-o? A brother-in-law-o? O_o

Of course, what’s a VOCALOID birthday post without an obligatory music video to top it off? Instead of sourcing out for some random Kagamine Rin/Len birthday MV, I’ll be bringing to you a couple of old ones instead, especially since I’ve not been in the ‘scene’ for a long time. >_>

So here’s Kokoro and Kokoro Kiseki by Rin and Len respectively:

Synchronize

So what’s that “Synchronize” link for, you ask? Well, preload both the videos (all the way if your connection is terrible) and hit the link to hear the twins sing their songs as a duet. You’ll notice how Len’s chorus compliments Rin’s nicely. If they don’t sync properly the first time round, keep hitting the link till they do. =P

I know there are pre-encoded videos that already sync the two MVs, but Javascript is way cooler. Also, only tested in Firefox and Chrome, so if it fails in another browser…ouch. Obviously, it won’t work in feed readers, either. Still, keep the feedback coming; I’d love to know how to make you guys enjoy the content we post!

Also, both videos were done up by a chap named ‘Glider’ (correct me if I’m wrong), who also did this HAKOBAKO PLAYER PV that helped get me hooked to the twins:

Most people seem to consider this being their 16th birthday (as opposed to 2nd), since they were officially announced as being 14 years old the day they came out. I don’t factor their announced age in, since I sorta consider them to be digital beings, if that makes any sense you. ^_^;

Ah hell I’ll just embed a birthday MV too:

Here’s to another year of Rin & Len!

It’s very simple. Simply leave a comment on this post wishing my brother and fellow blogger, FarizAsuka, a happy birthday.

I know we probably won’t receive as many wishes as gordonator did on his post, but still, it’s good to let a person know he’s appreciated, right?

Alternatively, if you have a deviantART account, you can leave a birthday message on his Wall. I’m sure the other deviantART users will catch on and start posting on his wall too after seeing your comments.

The idea is that Fariz will probably only see this when he logs on at his camp, which will probably be in the evening. This is my present to him, since I had originally planned to buy a good present, but seeing as that failed due to lack of time and money, I decided to settle for this instead. Pretty cheap, I know, but it’s something.

Also, happy birthday Fariz. And happy birthday Kyouran Kyōdai, since I forgot to celebrate your birthday 12 days ago.

I guess there’s always next year.

Today marks another joyous occasion for Hatsune Miku fans and as well as the Vocaloid fans around the globe..This is the day we celebrate Hatsune Miku’s 2nd birthday.. Well, technically she was created/born 2 years ago as a simple voice synthesizer program by Crypton.. However, she grew from a relatively-unknown character like KAITO and MEIKO to something like a pop sensation..

Honestly, since her debut, there have been quite alot of wonderful songs (too many to count already @_@) and also spinoffs of her were created (Akita Neru, Yowane Haku, perhaps BRS and countless other characters).. Figurines of her were made, from 1/8 scale size to figmas and nendoroids.. There is even a game made featuring her as the main character; Project DIVA..

Well, the “MIKU” franchise has come so far, what more can we expect?? o.O

1) The B★RS Pilot Project

Yes, after a couple of months since the release of the music video by ryo & huke, there is finally a anime pilot project being developed by Ordet.. More info in a previous post here..

Well, the DVD/Blu-Ray are already up for pre-orders and they will be released to the market on the 30th September this year.. It is well, a pilot project as a teaser for a full-length anime next year.. Judging by the small trailer itself, I can expect a sell-out of the DVDs/Blu-Rays within a few days.. The graphic is amazing indeed… XD

And now, I would like to present to you the trailer itself, thanks to AkibaHobby.net~

B★RS Pilot Project Trailer:

The Kyouran Kyodai will get this DVD and do an epic review on it.. XD Now, next up we have….

2) The Nendo Petit Vocaloid Set #1

What can we say, even after the release of so many figurines/figmas/nendos, the figurine companies want to burn a huge hole in our wallet make us more happy by releasing more figures, like this Nendo Petit Set..

The set comes with the whole official Vocaloid gang plus Akita Neru and Yowane Haku as the only spinoffs to be included.. Apart from them, there is also 2 nendo petit that will come together with the set; the “Saihate” Miku and the “Sakine” Meiko which I talked about here..

Well, during the Chara Hobby (which I will do a post real soon), they also displayed 3 nendo petit Vocaloid in their SuperGT outfits.. I would sure love to get my hands on them too lol.. =3

I wish all the best to Hatsune Miku in the coming years.. Most of the songs inspired people to carry on making more beautiful music videos in so many genres (VocaRock is one of them..).. She was even selected to perform for Animelo 2009..

Well, lets hope that next year and the coming years, Miku will still be ever famous.. As for now, I would like to show my gratitude to all Vocaloid fans by showcasing some Miku artworks, most of them relating to her birthday today!! ^^

Source: Pixiv by HapiBeat

Source: Pixiv by towa

Source: Pixiv by me.

Source: Pixiv by 芳原舞人

Source: Pixiv by 鈴白

Source: Pixiv by めい

Source: Pixiv by 花茄子

Source: Pixiv by 藤ひょろね

Source: Pixiv by kokuyou

Yesterday, but yay anyway! \o/

Haha, yeah, I’m finally 19 years old. Another year of shit and happiness. Ups and downs. Yadda yadda.

I don’t feel like boring you with reminiscing about the past; instead I feel like telling you what I actually want for my birthday. Or any of my future birthdays.

Most of these wishes aren’t even in existence (yet, you never know ), so don’t try to rush out and buy something on my list.

1. An IB★RS figurine

Source: Pixiv by huke

Well, they turned B★RS into a figurine, why not this particular derivative too? I would get a figurine modelled after her for 3 reasons:

1. Badass girl.
2. Badass sword.
3. Badass figurine base (hopefully).

IB★RS (or at least this particular one) was drawn by huke (once again demonstrating how awesome he is), and while I can’t say for sure he created this one (since someone else actually drew it first), I still think his “version” is the best.

By the time IB★RS comes out as a figurine I’d have amassed enough moolah to spend on it.

By the way, the “I” stands for “Inverse”. Or at least that’s what I think it does.

2. A VOCALOID animated movie

No…just no.
Source: Piapro by 初心者の集い

Someone out there needs to take this on. Really. If it aired in cinemas worldwide (or at least in certain countries *wink wink*) the tickets would sell like hotcakes. If it aired on TV it’d be recorded and P2P-ed across the Internet faster than you can say “Megurine Luka”.

Or maybe you can twist this idea. An animated series? Some CG-based 3-dimensional movie? As long as it isn’t crappy or too fanservice-y, it’s fine by me.

This is the closest anyone has gotten to this idea, in my opinion. Come on! I want my Miku movie! >:(

Also, here’s what’s supposed to happen after (though it’s very unfinished, and hasn’t been touched since it was made):

Totally Gurren Lagann-like. Or Sengoku Basara-like, since everyone tells me that’s a lot like Gurren Lagann. Haven’t watched it yet though.

3. A…

Wait…I’m out of ideas. Oh well.

Since I got stuck at home doing absolutely nothing useful, I decided to take on an old project of mine that I wanted to do a long time ago (but didn’t have time), and this was the result:

It’s a modified version of the Mikuru “follow the mouse” widget, and the end result’s supposed to be a Miku…but for now lets pretend she’s attending North High School and isn’t sporting her usual twintail hairstyle.

Well that’s it for tonight. I didn’t get to do much today since my parents are still overseas, but I had a Swensen’s dinner and a birthday song from my parents (who are still in Paris), so I guess that’s good enough for me. (>–w-)>

Thanks for reading!

Well, its that time of year when a person gets a year older and when most people get well wishes and sometimes even presents from their love ones.. No, I am not talking about the lovey-dovey Valentines Day.. Its none other than a Birthday.. If you think it is Hatsune Miku’s birthday, you can call yourself a forgetful person since her birthday is on he month of August..

I am talking about me, Fariz Asuka’s birthday.. Anyway, this is kinda of a late post since my family went out to get me a birthday cake.. ( I didn’t ask for one but still thanks a million.. ^^ ) Since I have a few slices of the cake, I shared a few together with Hatsune Miku, both nendo and figma and also figma Fate Testarossa..

Judging by their expression, I think they love it.. I kinda like the cake; Having “F.A.” which is Fariz Asuka and that the cake has smooth and creamy chocolate.. ^^;;

Fate couldn’t agree more..

Figma Hatsune Miku thinks the same way too..

Followed by the cute Nendo Miku.. I wonder why she carried a leek with her.. Oh well, she does look very happy indeed.. xD

Well, apparently figma Miku couldn’t resist eating the cake as it looks so delicious that she wanted to have a small piece first for herself..

However, being a birthday boy, I slapped her hand and told her that it is rude to do such thing.. Everyone will have a share.. Unfortunately, figma Miku didnt heed my warning.. -_-;;

So I told her in order to get a piece of the cake, she will have to sing me a birthday song.. Figma Miku ponders at my request, and sing she did… ^^

Wooo.. Nice shirt.. ^^;

If you are wondering where in the world I got that shirt, good question.. Apparently, AC together with the Lim Kopi gang, decided to make me a custom Hatsune Miku T-Shirt for my birthday.. Although I did say I want a “L” size, I still manage to fit it on myself (tight fit) and celebrated my birthday.. xD

When I opened the packaging, I saw a letter that comes with the shirt.. What I saw next truly made my rank as a Miku Fanboy goes up >9000..

Lim Kopi, you truly made my day.. ^^

Inside, it was the well-wishes written by the Lim Kopi gang.. I thank you all very much for doing such wonderful thing, especially the T-Shirt ( “M” size is tight… x3 )

With that, figma Miku wanted to continue with the celebration by singing more songs for us… That is so sweet of her..

And while she is singing, I will take my time and eating my cake.. xD

Great concert indeed.. Should have called for DMC too.. ^^;

Well, that sums up the entry on Fariz Asuka birthday.. I would like to thank everyone for giving me well-wishes.. Also would like to thank Lim Kopi for the awesome present ever ( You guys are so good.. ) and also my family for remembering my b’day.. ^^

Thats all I have for today, hope to see you at Kaleidoscope 2008 at Funan IT Mall.. ^^

I actually planned this to be part of the Miku’s birthday post, but time wasn’t on my side.

As usual.

If it isn’t obvious to you non-otaku visitors, I am a Miku fanboy. I simply love Miku, way more than any other anime character.

Let me start off with how I found out about Miku.

I was surfing some anime forum, looking for Lucky Star wallies (Lucky Star was still airing then), and I kept seeing signatures of a twin-tailed turqoise-haired girl. I was curious since she had a striking resemblance to Kagami, so I googled the name “Miku” and a minute later I was reading the wikipedia article for the VOCALOID technology.

Soon, curiosity turned into slight obsession. I was already into text-to-speech engines which allowed computers to speak, so a technology allowing computers to sing seemed impossible to me at the time. I just had to see how it fared, especially since it was (and still is) an online trend.

Image source: Unknown

Eventually I started watching one of her Youtube videos, “Ievan Polkka“. I thought it sounded cool, especially since I’ve never heard a 100% synthetic (voice included) song in my life before that.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbbA9BhCTko]

My interest was further bolstered by the fact that I was searching for another meme known as the “Loituma Girl“, and since both Miku’s Ievan Polkka and the Loituma Girl were based on the same idea (waving a leek), I knew I stumbled upon something big here.

My sudden interest died after a while though.

A few months later, I was surfing moetron when I found more Miku videos which he posted, and I instantly remembered what I had found. Interest sparking up again, I watched all the 3D videos he had posted, and became hooked. Before I knew it, I had registered an account on NicoNicoDouga and started experiencing the Miku sensation first-hand.

By now, my brother had seen the videos himself (he DOES sit beside me, after all) and was as surprised as I was about all the effort put into this one character. He became a Miku fan too, though a bit later than I did.

Now? My brother’s well-known for being the Miku Guardian, though we all know he wasn’t the first one between us. XD

Becoming a Miku fan also led me to other sites such as Piapro and Pixiv, so I guess becoming a Miku fanboy made me more of an otaku than I already was.

I like Miku because of one thing: independent development. Fans constantly create more and more content about her, whether it’s fanart, music, or video/animation. She became the craze in Japan (and around the world) that she is now simply because of the fans that support her.

The rise of the virtual idol also encouraged fans to bring forth their talent, talent which I’ve seen time and again in several creations. You can see one example below:

Black ★ Rock Shooter
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLzOrik5YJ8]
Nico

Anyway, once again, Happy Birthday Miku!